Steering-gear.



l C. I'. STRAWN.

STEERING GEAR. APPLIOATION FILED DB0. 26. 190s Patented June 1,1909.

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" STEERING-GEAR. f*

No. 923,210. y 'specification of Letters `J'rTatent.

yPatented June 1,1909. n

y kApplicationfiled Deoemberf, 1908. Serial No. l4439,28?.

To all whom it may conccrii: y g p i Be it Known that l, CHARLES F.STRAWN,

a citizen of the United States, residing'atL Philadelphia, in thecounty' of Philadelphia" and State of Pennsylvania, havey inventedLcertain new and useful Improvements in Steering-Gears, otwhich .thefollowing is a speciiication. f f

My inventionrelates to an improved steeron motor vehicles, the object oivthe Ainvention being to yprovide improved means for turning a segmentalgear, and eonnectsaid gear by means of four rods, `,with the' axle stubcrank-arms, so as toprovidean ex` invention consists incertaininovelffeatures` of construction, ,andA combinations, andr ar,-rangement of 4parts as will be more fully hereinafter described andpointed out in `the claim. v, n 1

ln the accompanying drawings Figure l,

isa view in longitudinal section illustrating the application of imyimprovements to a .motor vehicle, and Fig., 2, is a 'plan view. i

i. represents side bars ot a `jiiiotor vehicle trame, connected at theirforward "ends to ,A the lixed axle 2, and S'represents axlejstubs havingpivotal kconnection witlith'e ends of the fixed axle `2, and mounted. inthe or: dinary wheels 4l.

At the center ol` thelixed axle 2, seg-k mental gear 5 is mounted, randis in mesh with a segmental gear 6, also-'mounted on the axle 2.,'lhissegmental gear 6 is provided. on its under yface withy a series ofbeveled gear teeth? ,in mesh with a beveledr gear 8, the latter secureduponythe lower end of the steering shaft'Q, and a hand wheel l()f issecured upon the upper end vrof said'steering shaft. is turned, thegearS iwill transmitmotion to the gear 6, andthe latter to the gear 5',for a purposewhich will iiowbe explained.'

The axle stubs Bare both provided .with forwardly andr rearwardlyprojecting crank arms 1l, and thesearms are connected by ing gear, moreparticularly designed for use n' rlhus when the steering Wheel l() fyrods 12with the gear. The connection between' said rods and the gearand crank-` arms, isp-a pivotal one, a simple pin connection beingshown, but other forms of connection may be provided. lt will thus beobserved that four rods 12 are employed, two of them connecting1 thegear 5 with the crank-arms 11 of the axle ystub 3 at one side ofthevehicle, while the other rods l2 connect the crank-arms l l of the otheraxle stub 3.

In the 'event of injury to any of the arms,

the steering gear will operate with equal' eiliectiveness, as themovement of one crankr` arm 11 is all that is necessary to pivot theyaxle stub, but with two arms in use a much' stronger construction isprovided, as there is a push on one rod and a pull on the other wheneverthe axle stubs are swung. v By providing a construction ot the threegears as above explained, a direct transmitting means is providedbetween the steering shalt 9 and the pinion 5, ywhich is extremelysensitive to the movement oit hand wheel l0, and hence the vehicle canbe quickly manipulated, which is an extremely desirable yfeature oi myimprovements.

ln theflirst place, it must be understood that ythe rods i2 are' thinvsteel rods, which though of great strength to withstand longitudinalstrains and stresses, are also ilexible Aand capable of great lateralbending. This lateral bending of the rods will compensate for anydifference in movement oi the pivotal points. For instance, with thepartsy as shown in Fig. 2, and referring to the upper wheel on thesheet, ii the gear is turned `lrom left to right, the right hand rodwill be n drawn downward as the left hand rod is moved iigiwardly, andwhile there will be a slight di lerence oi vertical movement (keeping inmind the position 01' the drawing on y the sheet and not the actualposition ot' the parts on the machine) oi' the rods and pivotal points,but this will be compensated for by the bowing oic the rods., It mightbe true that this structure would work easier if ther pivotal points atthe inner ends oi' the rods 12 were in line with the center of gear 5,but

in order to do this, it woiildbe necessary to have only two pivot pins,which would in the event ot a pin becoming broken disable bothr rodsconnected to the same. The

broad purpose oi applicants invention is to provide tour separatelyconnected rods, which would in the event of the disabling of one, notinterfere with the perfect operation of the machine, and with this endin View, the fact that the steering may be a trifle harder than it might'otherwise be, is compensated for by the minimizing of the danger ofdisabling the steering gear. rThe rods 12 on a full size machine wouldmeasure probably two and one half feet in length, and one half inchorless in diameter, and hence there would be a great amount offlexibility for lateral bending between the ends of the rods, and whilebut very slight lateral bending would be necessary to compensate for thedierence in movement of the pivotal points, sufficient flexibility isinherent in the rods to compensate for a great deal of difference inmovement.

Various slight changes might be made in the general form and arrangementof parts described without departing from my invention, and hence l donot restrict myself to the precise detail set forth, but consider myselfat liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall Withinthe spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Let-l ters Patent is:

In a steering gear, the combination with a fixed support, axle stubspivotally connected to the ends of said support, and crank armsprojecting from opposite sides of said axle stubs, of a segmental gearmounted on said sup ort at its center, rods connecting all of sai crankarms with said gear, a segmental gear secured on the sup )ort at oneside of the center and in mesh wit said first mentioned gear, a seriesof beveled gear teeth on said last mentioned gear, a steering shaftlocated at one side of the center of the support, a beveled gear on saidsteering shaft meshing with said series of gear teeth, and a steeringwheel on said steering shaft.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES F. STRA/ TN.

litnesses:

R. H. KREUKEL, J. A. L. MULHALL.

